U.S. Budget Week: Obama Budget Likely to Fortify Fiscal Divide

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"I understand the politics of the decision (to remove chained CPI from the President's budget), but it's a clear step backward," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition. "The President isn't running in November but congressional Democrats are and they apparently don't even want this as part of the fiscal discussion. That's unfortunate. And coming on the heels of the bipartisan retreat on military COLAs, this is a further indication that we're moving backwards on long-term fiscal issues," he added. Bixby also said, "as I see it, the president, having proposed a chained CPI before, should have stayed with it. He's already taken the political hit and it would show his commitment to serious fiscal reform and a continuing openness to a Grand Bargain."